Vandals spray paint hate messages outside Vaughan Islamic centre

Vandalism

Calling it “an un-Canadian and hateful act”, a spokesperson for an Islamic community centre in Thornhill said his group is “obviously shocked, hurt, and... distressed”, by hate messages spray-painted on the sidewalk and a sign at the Bathurst street facility.

York Regional Police are investigating after vandals spray-painted “Arab go home!” on the sidewalk and other racist words at the Jaffari Community Centre at 9000 Bathurst St., near Rutherford Road. Police were called to the site just after 7 p.m. Sunday evening.

“We’re frankly taken aback somebody would want to do this,” Jaffari Centre communications lead Shabbir Jaffer said. “We’ve been a very moderate member of the community. We’ve always co-operated with everyone, our neighbours included.”

Police found what they called messages “of a hateful nature that had been spray-painted out front of the centre. The messages were in relation to the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.”

There were also symbols spray-painted on a sign in front of the centre.

Officers canvassed the local area and will do so again today but want to speak to anyone who may have witnessed the incident.

The Jaffari Centre has been involved in a highly contentious application to build two, 17-storey towers and 61 three-storey townhouse units on the large plot of land owned by Islamic Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of Toronto.

A Feb. 4 meeting at Vaughan City Hall drew at least 1,000 people and overflowed council chambers, the multi-purpose room and overflow room at 2141 Major Mackenzie Rd.

The development, which is opposed by many in the largely Jewish, is still on the table and will come back before council.

Police have drawn no link between the vandalism night and the dispute over the Jaffari development application.

Jaffer said he doesn’t believe the development application was connected to Sunday’s incident, which occurred during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Muslim calendar.

“Frankly no, we don’t believe there was any reason to believe that anyone from the local area would do such a hateful action. We believe our neighbours to be peaceful, law-abiding people.

“I’m not going to speculate as to who did it,” he added. “I’ll leave that to the police.”

Thornhill MPP Gila Martow spoke out against the vandalism in the legislature Monday afternoon.

“I woke up to disappointing news this morning that a mosque in my riding was vandalized overnight with messages of hatred and intolerance. It is my hope that those messages are removed quickly and the perpetrators are caught and brought to justice. I believe that we, in Ontario and Canada, should continue to serve as exemplary role models to the world of how diverse communities can live together with values of respect and tolerance,” she said.

The graffiti is unacceptable, said Concord/North Thornhill Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco, who represents the area and who has been part of the local homeowners/Jaffari centre/Vaughan city staff meetings over the development.

“Is it related to (the development application)? I can’t really tell you because I don’t know all the details on it, but I really hope it isn’t. I certainly hope it isn’t,” she said.

“In the city of Vaughan, we have always committed to promoting tolerance and respect and respecting everybody’s culture,” she continued. “For something like this to happen in our back yard is really, really disappointing.”

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua echoed those sentiments.

“This type of vandalism is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our community,” he said. “We view our diversity as one of our greatest strengths and are unified in the belief that acceptance and understanding will continue to move this city forward.”

Suggestions the escalating tensions in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israelis led to the hate graffiti angered Jaffer.

“It would be a real shame, bringing a geo-political tension into a local community in Canada is just crazy, just appalling,” he said.

“I’d like to think it’s not representative of the wider Canadian population.”

Specially trained York Regional Police No. 4 district hate crime investigators are involved in the investigation, while the central hate crime unit will be monitoring the case as it progresses.